Nucleic acid encoding TGF-β and its uses

ABSTRACT

Nucleic acid encoding TGF-β has been isolated and cloned into vectors which are replicated in bacteria and expressed in eukaryotic cells. TFG-β is recovered from transformed cultures for use in known therapeutic modalities. Nucleic acid encoding TGF-β is useful in diagnosis and identification of TGF-β clones.

This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 715,142 filed Mar. 22, 1985, now abandoned.

Peptides which can induce the reversible phenotypic transformation of mammalian cells in culture have been given the name transforming growth factor (TGF)¹,2. Type α TGF competes with epidermal growth factor (EGF) for binding to the same cell surface receptor³. A 50 amino acid TGF-α species has been purified and shown to share sequence homology with EGF⁴. TGF-α is synthesized by various transformed cell lines³,5,6,91. The 50 amino acid TGF-α is initially synthesized as part of a 160 amino acid precursor molecule which undergoes N- and C-terminal proteolytic processing to yield the mature peptide⁷,8. The detection of TGF-α species with apparently higher molecular weights¹,2,9 might be due to variable processing of the 160 amino acid precursor⁹².

Type β TGF activity has been isolated from tumor cells as well as many normal tissues¹⁰,11, including kidney¹², placenta¹³ and blood platelets¹⁴,15. TGF-β is present in platelets, which also contain platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and an EGF-like peptide¹⁶. Bovine TGF-β has been demonstrated to accelerate wound healing in rats¹⁷ and to induce fetal RMM cells to undergo differentiation and synthesize cartilage-specific macromolecules⁸⁰. Treatment of NRK fibroblasts with TGF-β does, however, result in an increase in the number of membrane receptors for EGF²⁰. This observation is in agreement with the known ability of TGF-β to greatly potentiate the activity of EGF and TGF-α on these cells¹⁰,11. Moreover, TGF-β alone can induce AKR-2B fibroblasts to form colonies in soft agar²¹. Elevated levels of TGF-β are secreted by some transformed cells²². In addition to its ability to stimulate cell proliferation, TGF-β has been demonstrated to inhibit the anchorage-dependent growth of a variety of human cancer cell lines¹³. It is now thought that TGF-β may be identical or very similar to a growth inhibitor isolated from African green monkey (BSC-1) cells²⁴. Whether TGF-β acts to stimulate or inhibit the growth of a particular cell line type appears to depend on many variables, including the physiological condition of the cell and the presence of additional growth factors.

Bovine TGF-β has been purified to sequenceable grade (U.S. Ser. No. 500,833, filed June 3, 1983, abandoned). The first 15 amino-terminal residues of the mature protein were found to be Ala-Leu-Asp-Thr-Asn-Tyr-CMC-Phe-Ser-Ser-Thr-Gly-Lys-Asn-CMC-, wherein CMC is S-carboxymethyl cysteine representing cysteine or half-cystine residues.

Human TGF-β from human placenta and platelets has been purified to the same degree (respectively, U.S. Ser. No. 500,927 and 500,832, both filed June 3, 1983 and now abandoned). Placental TGF-β was reported to have the following amino terminal sequence: Ala-Leu-Asp-Thr-Asn-Tyr-CMC-Phe-(Ser-Ser)-Thr-Glu-Lys-Asn-CMC-Val-X-Gln-Leu-Tyr-Ile-Asp-Phe-X-(Lys)-Asp-Leu-Gly-, wherein X was undetermined and CMC is as defined above. Platelet TGF-β was reported as the amino terminal sequence Ala-Leu-Asp-Thr-Asn-Tyr-X-Phe-Ser-, wherein CMC and X are as defined above.

Human TGF-β was reported to be composed of two polypeptide chains of very similar molecular weight (M_(r) =12,500) which are maintained in covalent association by disulfide bonds. The disulfide bonds were considered likely to play an important role in conferring structure on the TGF-β molecule (U.S. Ser. No. 500,832).

Several other factors have been described that are related to TGF-β by limited amino acid acid sequence homology. The inhibin A and B beta chains are related to TGF-β by the placement of homologous cysteine residues and other limited amino acid sequence homology, from which it has been inferred that inhibin, or more accurately activin (dimers of the inhibin beta_(A) or beta_(B) chains), is structurally related to TGF-β. Inhibin represses the release of FSH from the pituitary, while activin enhances the release of FSH⁸¹,82. TGF-β is not known to have this activity.

Mullerian inhibitory substance has a C-terminal region which is homologous with TGF-β and inhibits the growth of Mullerian-derived tumors⁸³,84.

TGF-β prepared by purification from biological materials presents a risk of contamination by infectious agents such as HTLV-III or hepatitis viruses. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to prepare TGF-β from sources that do not present a risk of contamination.

It is another object to prepare nucleic acid that will hybridize with DNA encoding biologically active TGF-β. When appropriately labelled, this nucleic acid is useful in diagnostic assays for TGF-β mRNA and in isolating DNA encoding TGF-β.

It is a further object herein to prepare vectors containing DNA that encodes TGF-β, together with host cell transformants that express biologically active TGF-β.

SUMMARY

In accordance with this invention, the foregoing objects are achieved by a method comprising (a) constructing a vector which includes nucleic acid encoding TGF-β, (b) transforming a heterologous host eukaryotic cell with the vector, (c) culturing the transformed cell, and (d) recovering TGF-β from the culture.

Nucleic acid encoding two subtypes of TGF-β (TGF-β₁ and TGF-β₃) is provided which is useful in constructing the above vectors. This nucleic acid or a nucleic acid capable of hybridizing therewith also is labelled and used in diagnostic assays for DNA or mRNA encoding TGF-β or related proteins.

The preparation of TGF-β derivatives by recombinant methods is made possible by knowledge of the TGF-β coding sequences disclosed herein. These derivatives include silent and expressed mutants in the nucleic acid encoding TGF-β.

Silent variants involve the substitution of one degenerate codon for another where both codons code for the same amino acid, but which substitution could exert a salutary effect on TGF-β yield in recombinant culture, e.g. by modifying the secondary structure of TGF-β mRNA, and which salutary substitution is identified by screening TGF-β yields from transformants.

Expressed TGF-β variants fall into one or more of three classes: deletions, substitutions or insertions. Deletions are characterized by the elimination of amino acid residues without the insertion of a replacement residue. Deletional variants of TGF-β are useful in making TGF-β fragments, for example, where it is desired to delete an immune epitope.

Substitution variants are those in which one amino acid residue has been replaced by another. Such variants are extremely difficult to make by methods other than recombinant synthesis, especially substitutions targeted for the interior of the primary amino acid sequence. They are useful in modifying the biological activity of TGF-β. Substitution variants include allelic forms of TGF-β as well as TGF-β subtypes.

TGF-β is found as a disulfide linked dimer. Further variants include heterodimers of TGF-β subtypes and heterodimers of one TGF-β chain having a native amino acid sequence disulfide bonded through the ordinary homodimer disulfide linkages to a predetermined variant of TGF-β. In this case, such variants include biologically active as well as biologically inactive TGF-β.

Insertional variants are those in which one or more residues are placed within the internal TGF-β sequence or at either end thereof. Variants of this class include fusion proteins resulting from insertions at the carboxyl or amino terminal residues of TGF-β. TGF-β fusions with bacterial or other immunogenic proteins are useful for raising antibodies against TGF-β or its predetermined fragments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1a is a schematic diagram of the TGF-β₁ mRNA showing the boxed coding sequence. The 112 amino acid TGF-β₁ (dashed) is encoded by the 3' end of the coding sequence. The sequenced cDNA inserts of λβCl, 3.19, 3.32, 4.10, 4.33, 4.37 and 5.7b (described infra) and the genomic DNA sequence for the 3' untranslated region are aligned above the diagram.

FIGS. 1b(I)-1b(III) (hereinafter referred to collectively as FIG. 1b) depict the sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of the preTGF-β₁ cDNA, determined from the several overlapping cDNAs and the genomic 3' region. The 5' terminal region which could be folded into stable hairpin loops is underlined. The preTGF-β₁ cDNA encodes a 390 amino acid protein, of which the C-terminal 112 amino acids (boxed) encode mature TGF-β₁. A hydrophobic domain found at the N-terminus of the precursor is overlined. An overlined Arg-Arg dipeptide precedes the proteolytic cleavage site for release of TGF-β₁. Three potential N-glycosylation sites in preTGF-β₁ are overlined. The stop codon is followed by the underlined G-C rich sequence and a downstream TATA-like sequence.

FIG. 2 depicts a genomic fragment encoding a TGF-β₁ exon and its deduced amino acid sequence. Arrows show the mRNA processing sites (intron-exon junctions). The residue numbers correspond to FIG. 1b.

FIG. 3 is a comparison between the known N-terminal sequence of bovine TGF-β₂ and the mature human TGF-β₁ and human and porcine TGF-β₃ amino acid sequences. Unconserved substitutions in TGF-β₁ which constitute the TGF-β₂ and β₃ subtypes are designated by dots above the unconserved residues. The amino acid residue numbers shown in this Figure shall be used herein unless otherwise indicated.

FIGS. 4a-4c show the cDNA sequences for human and porcine TGF-β₃. The sequence for the human cDNA encodes a portion of the presequence region and all of the mature sequence. The human and porcine sequences are adjacent to the lines designated hu4 and 10+11.3, respectively. Gaps are introduced into the sequences in order to maximize nucleotide homology. Homologous bases are designated with an asterisk.

FIG. 5 depicts the amino acid sequences encoded by the cDNAs of FIGS. 4a-4c. Homologous residues are designated with an asterisk. Candidate translational start methionyl residues for the porcine sequence are located at positions 43, 88 or 90 (boxed methionyl residues). The C-terminal residue for both the human and porcine sequences is the seryl at 499 (porcine) or 204 (human).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

TGF-β has proven to be extremely difficult to synthesize in recombinant cell culture while retaining its growth-altering activity. As can be seen from FIGS. 1b, 3 and 5, the mature TGF-β amino acid sequence contains a large number of cysteine residues⁹, at least some of which apparently are involved in interchain crosslinking in forming the homodimeric TGF-β which is recovered from natural sources. Furthermore, TGF-β is expressed as a precursor molecule having a large amino terminal region not containing the recognizable NH₂ -terminal signal peptide sequence typical of most secreted proteins, even though TGF-β normally appears to some degree in the extracellular medium. However, eukaryotic cells have been transformed to express heterologous TGF-β, notwithstanding the anticipated difficulty in properly processing the primary translation product in recombinant culture.

This invention is directed to recombinant synthesis of TGF-β, which is defined as inclusive of biologically active preTGF-β having the FIG. 1b sequence, mature TGF-β, polypeptide fragments thereof and insertion, substitution and/or deletion variants of such preTGF-β (including alleles or other TGF-β subtypes than the TGF-β₁ subtype shown in FIG. 1b), mature TGF-β or polypeptide fragments.

Biologically active TGF-β is defined as being capable of inducing EGF-potentiated anchorage independent growth of target cell lines⁸¹ and/or growth inhibition of neoplastic cell lines²³. Anchorage independent growth refers to the ability of TGF-β and EGF treated non-neoplastic target cells to form colonies in soft agar, a characteristic ascribed to transformation of the cells (hence the name transforming growth factor). This is not to say that TGF-β will "cause" cancer because it is now known that many normal cells express TGF-β. Paradoxically, TGF-β also is known to inhibit the growth of several normal cell types and various neoplastic cells such as A549.

Biological activity for the purposes herein also generally includes the ability to cross-react with antisera raised against native TGF-β. Native TGF-β is that which is obtained from platelets or other natural sources. Immunological cross-reactivity is a measure of a single active epitope and not necessarily of active TGF-β domains involved in inducing anchorage-independent growth of target cells. However, immunologically cross-reactive proteins per se are not biologically active as defined herein unless they also exert growth-affecting activity, i.e., all biologically active TGF-β variants promote growth in the defined assays, but not all immunologically cross-reactive TGF-βs are biologically active. Of course, TGF-β which is capable of inducing anchorage independent growth frequently will exhibit immunological cross-reactivity with antisera raised against the native molecule as a corollary to maintenance of proper conformation.

The FIG. 1b nucleotide sequence was obtained by an analysis of several overlapping cDNAs and gene fragments, leading to the determination of a continuous sequence corresponding to the TGF-β₁ precursor mRNA. According to FIG. 1b an initiator ATG is located 841 nucleotides from the 5' end and establishes a coding sequence for a 390 residue polypeptide. Several areas within the cDNA sequence have an exceptionally high G-C content. The initiator ATG is flanked by two G-C rich areas of approximately 200 bp each. In addition, several regions of the cDNA, particularly the 5'-terminus, have regions with greater than 80 percent G-C content. The location of these G-C rich regions coincides with the areas in which the many cDNA cloning artifacts occurred and where partial length cDNAs were obtained.

The 5' untranslated region of the TGF-β₁ mRNA is 841 nucleotides long (assuming the ATG is located at nucleotide 842) and contains a long sequence consisting almost exclusively of purines. The biological relevance of this exceptionally long 5' untranslated region of high G-C content is unknown, but it is similar to the structural organization of c-myc mRNA. However, there is no striking sequence homology between these two sequences. The long 5' untranslated region of c-myc has been hypothesized to have a functional significance³⁷. The G-C rich 5'-proximal part of the 5' untranslated sequence of human c-myc mRNA has several regions which could form stable hairpin loops. Likewise, the first 120 bp of the untranslated preTGF-β₁ cDNA can theoretically be folded into hairpin loop structures with a calculated stability of -91 kcal. The long 5' untranslated sequence and the potentially stable hairpin loop structures could play a role in the mRNA stability or in the regulation of transcription. Accordingly, this region can be deleted and substituted for by other 5' untranslated sequences, e.g. from viral proteins, in order to identify structures that may improve TGF-β₁ yields from recombinant cell culture.

The stop codon preceding base 2015 is immediately followed by a remarkable, G-C rich sequence of 75 nucleotides (underlined in FIG. 1b). This sequence consists of multiple repeats of CCGCC. The peculiar nature of this sequence is probably responsible for the fact that the 3' untranslated end of the mRNA could not be cloned as a cDNA sequence, perhaps due to the inability of the E. coli DNA polymerase I to use this sequence as a template for the second strand cDNA synthesis. Repeat sequences of a similar nature have been found in the promoter regions of the genes for human dihydrofolate reductase³⁸, human transferrin receptor, human adenosine deaminase³⁹, and Herpesvirus thymidine kinase⁴⁰. In the latter case, McKnight et al.⁴⁰ have shown that these structural elements are of major importance for the transcription efficiency.

In addition, it has been shown that the promoter specific transcriptional factor Spl binds to such sequences in the SV40 early promoter region and in a related monkey promoter⁴¹,42. In all of these cases the G-C rich repeats are followed closely by the Goldberg-Hogness TATA sequence. In the case of preTGF-β₁, however, these sequences are located in the 3' untranslated region of the gene, but are interestingly also followed by a TATA-like sequence. No evidence that this region could function as a promoter is available. The preTGF-β₁ gene sequence has the hexanucleotide AATAAA about 500 nucleotides downstream from the stop codon. This sequence, which usually precedes the site of polyadenylation by 11 to 30 bases³², probably functions as the preTGF-β₁ mRNA polyadenylation signal, since this would be in agreement with the size of preTGF-β mRNA estimated from Northern hybridizations, and since 3' untranslated regions rarely contain intervening sequences. Benoist et al.⁴³ have proposed a consensus sequence TTCACTGC which follows the AATAAA closely and immediately precedes the polyA-tail. A similar sequence, TTCAGGCC, follows the AATAAA sequence in the 3' untranslated region of the preTGF-β₁ mRNA, providing further support for the assignment of the polyadenylation site at position 2530 (FIG. 1b).

PreTGF-β₁ is a polypeptide of 390 amino acids. Comparison of this sequence with the previously determined NH₂ -terminus of mature TGF-β₁ shows that TGF-β₁ constitutes the C-terminal 112 amino acids of preTGF-β₁. The mature TGF-β₁ monomer is cleaved from the precursor at the Arg-Arg dipeptide immediately preceding the mature TGF-β₁ NH₂ -terminus. A similar dibasic cleavage site is located immediately upstream from the mature TGF-β₃ amino terminus. Such proteolytic cleavage sites have been found in several other polypeptide precursor sequences, including preproenkephalin⁴⁴,45, the calcitonin precursor⁴⁶, and corticotropin-β-lipotropin precursor⁴⁷. Determination of the hydrophobicity profile by the method of Kyte and Doolittle⁴⁸ predicts that the Arg-Arg sequence is located within a hydrophilic region which would make it accessible to a trypsin-like peptidase. Post-translational cleavage of the precursor gives rise to the mature TGF-β monomer. The disposition of the presequence is not known but may give rise to other biologically active peptides. The TGF-β₁ and TGF-β₃ precursors contain several pairs of basic residues (FIGS. 1b and 5) which could also undergo post-translation cleavage and give rise to separate polypeptide entities. Mature TGF-β₁ contains two Arg-Lys dipeptides which apparently are not cleaved. As shown in FIG. 1b, the preTGF-β₁ precursor contains three potential N-glycosylation sites, Asn-X-Ser or Thr (FIG. 1b). None of these are localized within mature TGF-β₁. Accordingly, a method is provided whereby mature TGF-β is purified free of glycoproteins by adsorbing the glycoproteins on immobilized lectins and eluting TGF-β with the unadsorbed fraction.

The sequence for human TGF-β was determined by direct amino acid sequence analysis and by deduction from the TGF-β cDNA. The sequence of the different TGF-β₁ peptides obtained by clostripain digestion is in agreement with the cDNA sequence, except for a few residues which presumably are due to incorrect amino acid assignment in sequencing. The 112 amino acid TGF-β sequence contains 9 cysteines, whereas the rest of the precursor contains only two (FIGS. 1b and 5). Previous studies have shown that reduction of the TGF-β₁ dimer of 25 kd results in the generation of two polypeptide chains of 12.5 kd¹⁵. Sequence analysis of the TGF-β amino-terminus and of the TGF-β₁ peptides obtained after clostripain digestion strongly suggests that the TGF-β dimer consists of two identical polypeptides. This homodimeric nature is also supported by the presence of only a single hybridizing DNA fragment upon Southern hybridization of human genomic DNA with a TGF-β exon probe. Chou-Fasman analysis⁵⁰ of the secondary structure shows that the TGF-β polypeptide has an extensive β -sheet character with little, if any, α-helicity. The region immediately preceding the basic dipeptide cleavage site is likely in an α-helical configuration.

For purposes herein, preTGF-β is defined as the normal TGF-β precursor depicted in FIGS. 1b and 5 as well as other precursor forms of TGF-β in which the presequence is not that normally associated with TGF-β. These latter forms are to be considered insertional mutants of DNA encoding mature TGF-β. These mutants ordinarily comprise a presequence which is heterologous to TGF-β in the form of a fusion with mature TGF-β. The heterologous presequences preferably are obtained from other secreted proteins, for example pregrowth hormone, preproinsulin, viral envelope proteins, interferons and yeast or bacterial presequences recognized by mammalian host cells. The sequences for these secretory leaders are known, as are suitable sources for DNA encoding same if it is not desired to synthesize the DNA in vitro. They are linked to DNA encoding mature TGF-β by restriction enzyme digestion of the DNA containing the desired signal and the preTGF-62 DNA. Synthetic oligonucleotides are prepared in order to introduce unique restriction sites (linkers) and, if necessary, DNA fragments needed to complete any presequence and mature TGF-β coding regions removed during restriction enzyme digestion. The synthesized linkers and/or fragments then are ligated to the restriction enzyme digest fragments containing the substitute signal and TGF-β coding region, and inserted into a cloning vector and the vector is used to transform bacterial hosts. The mutant presequence thereafter is cloned into an expression vector and used to transform host cells. An illustrative example employing a viral envelope protein presequence is described below.

Optimally, DNA encoding the complete heterologous presequence is linked to the first codon of TGF-β DNA. Alternatively, DNA encoding the mature TGF-β coding sequence is ligated to DNA encoding the complete heterologous presequence plus a short portion, e.g. 21 to 45 base pairs, encoding the mature heterologous protein; this will result in the secretion of a fusion peptide or protein which is useful as an immunogen or which can be cleaved to yield mature TGF-β (for example, by insertion of a collagenase cleavage site between the N-terminus of TGF-β and the C-terminus of the heterologous protein fragment). The objective of these constructions is to substitute a high efficiency secretory system for the native TGF-β secretory leader. However, it is by no means necessary to secrete TGF-β in order to produce it in recombinant culture.

Other deletion-insertion mutants include linking mature TGF-β species to viral proteins expressed in large intracellular quantities, e.g. retroviral core proteins, large T antigen from SV40 and the like, or to immunogenic bacterial proteins or polypeptides such as chemotactic polypeptides, in particular the potent chemotactic tripeptide Met-Leu-Phe-.

Expressed variants of preTGF-β, mature TGF-β or fragments thereof will exhibit amino acid sequences that gradually depart from the FIGS. 1b or 5 sequences as the number and scope of insertions, deletions and substitutions increases. This departure is measured as a reduction in homology between preTGF-β and the variant. All proteins or polypeptides that display TGF-β anchorage independent growth-promoting biological activity are included within the scope of this invention, regardless of the degree of homology that they show to the FIG. 1 protein. The reason for this is that some regions of preTGF-β, e.g. the presequence, are readily mutated, or even completely deleted as in the case of mature TGF-β, and thus biological activity will be retained. On the other hand, deletion of the nine cysteine residues (and accompanying disulfide linkages) in the mature TGF-β molecule will have a substantial adverse impact on this biological activity and in all likelihood would completely abrogate biological activity. In addition, a substitution mutant may exhibit full TGF-β growth-promoting activity and yet be less homologous if residues containing functionally similar amino acid side chains are substituted. Functionally similar refers to dominant characteristics of the side chains such as hydrophobic, basic, neutral or acidic, or the presence or absence of steric bulk. Thus the degree of homology that a given polypeptide bears to preTGF-β is not the principal measure of its identity as TGF-β. However, as a general guide, proteins or polypeptides that share at least some biological activity with mature TGF-β from natural sources and which are substantially homologous with the FIG. 1b sequence are to be considered as falling within the scope of the term TGF-β, e.g., TGF-β variants being about from 40 percent to 100 percent homologous with preTGF-β or any fragment thereof greater than about 20 residues, including variants having an amino acid sequence greater than about 75 percent homologous with the mature TGF-β₁ sequence. With respect to neoplastic cell growth-inhibiting activity, TGF-β excludes polypeptides known heretofore to exert such growth inhibitory activity, e.g. interferons, tumor necrosis factor and lymphotoxin, but otherwise need not necessarily have homologous regions with the FIG. 1b sequences.

More narrow and specific factors in establishing the identity of a polypeptide as TGF-β are (a) the ability of antisera which are capable of substantially neutralizing the growth inhibitory or the anchorage independent growth promoting activity of mature TGF-β also to substantially neutralize the activity of the polypeptide in question, or (b) the ability of the candidate polypeptide to compete with TGF-β for a TGF-β cell surface receptor. However, it will be recognized that immunological identity and growth promoting identity are not necessarily coextensive. A neutralizing antibody for the mature TGF-β of FIG. 1b may not bind a candidate protein because the neutralizing antibody happens to not be directed to a site on TGF-β that is critical for its growth promoting activity. Instead, the antibody may bind an innocuous region and exert its neutralizing effect by steric hindrance. Therefore, a candidate protein mutated in this innocuous region might no longer bind the neutralizing antibody, but it would nonetheless be TGF-β in terms of substantial homology and biological activity.

The TGF-β residues which are subject to site-directed mutagenesis for the preparation of variants which are likely to be antagonists to biologically active TGF-β are the cysteine residues, Arg₁₈, Lys₁₉, Leu₂₀, Tyr₂₁, Ile₂₂, Phe₂₄, Leu₂₈, Gly₂₉, Trp₃₀, Trp₃₂, Ile₃₃, Pro₃₆, Gly₃₈, Tyr₃₉, Asn₄₂, Gly₄₆, Pro₄₉, Leu₆₂, Tyr₆₅, Pro₇₀, Val₇₉, Pro₈₀, Leu₈₃, Leu₈₆, Ile₈₉, Val₉₀, Tyr₉₁, Tyr₉₂, Leu₁₀₂, Asn₁₀₅, Met₁₀₆, Ile₁₀₇ and Val₁₀₈. Substitutions which are made at these residues generally will be non-conserved, i.e. the substituted residue (a) differs substantially in hydrophobicity, for example a hydrophobic residue (Val, Ile, Leu, Phe or Met) substituted for a hydrophilic residue such as Arg, Lys, Trp or Asn, or a hydrophilic residue such as Thr, Ser, His, Gln, Asn, Lys, Asp, Glu or Trp substituted for a hydrophobic residue; (b) differs substantially in its effect on polypeptide backbone orientation such as substitution of or for Pro or Gly by another residue; (c) differs substantially in electric charge, for example substitution of a negatively charged residue such as Glu or Asp for a positively charged residue such as Lys, His or Arg (and vice versa); or (d) differs substantially in steric bulk, for example substitution of a bulky residue such as His, Trp, Phe or Tyr for one having a minor side chain, e.g. Ala, Gly or Ser (and vice versa). Each of the foregoing target residues also is deleted (preferably in pairs) or non-conserved residues (also preferably in pairs) are inserted adjacent to the target residues. Ordinarily, only one residue at a time is subject to introduction of sequence variation. The regions for investigation of site-directed variation are residues 105-112, 77-95, and 20-49.

Identification of antagonists is routine. The candidate is incubated together with an equimolar amount of TGF-β otherwise detectable in the EGF-potentiated anchorage independent target cell growth assay⁸¹, and the culture observed for failure to induce anchorage independent growth.

Antagonists that remain immunologically cross-reactive with native TGF-β are useful in immunoassays as standards or, when labelled, as reagents in competitive-type assays. Antagonists also are useful in therapy, e.g. of TGF-β dependent tumors.

The same residues targeted for site-directed variation in the generation of candidate antagonists also are targeted for the generation of agonists. Here, however, the variant residues which are substituted or inserted are conserved, i.e., members of each class, e.g. hydrophobic, electronegative and the like as described above, are substituted for one another or inserted adjacent to a member of the same class, again preferably in pairs.

Also within the scope of this invention are TGF-β variants representing fusions of one TGF-β allele or sub-type with another, for example a C-terminal domain from TGF-β₁ having the homologous N-terminal domain substituted from TGF-β₃, or substitutional variants in which a domain from one allele or subtype is substituted for the homologous region from another allele or subtype.

It is important to observe that characteristics such as molecular weight and the like for the native or wild type mature TGF-β of FIG. 1b obtained from placenta or platelets are descriptive only for the native species of TGF-β. The variants contemplated herein may modify the characteristics of native TGF-β considerably, and this in fact may be the objective of the mutagenesis as is more fully described below. While TGF-β as defined herein includes native TGF-β₁, other related biologically active polypeptides will fall within the definition. TGF-β species like the insertion mutants, deletion mutants, or fusion proteins described above will bring the mutant outside of the molecular weight established for native TGF-β. For example, fusion proteins with mature TGF-β or preTGF-β itself will have a greater molecular weight than native, mture TGF-β, while deletion mutants of mature TGF-β will have a lower molecular weight. Similarly, TGF-β is engineered in order to introduce glycosylation sites, thereby resulting in glycosylated TGF-β, or to substitute serine for cysteine at sites not critical for biological activity. Finally, post-translational processing of human preTGF-β in cell lines derived from nonprimate mammals may produce microheterogeneity in the amino terminal region of mature TGF-β, so that alanine will no longer be the amino terminal amino acid.

Note that the language "capable" of inducing anchorage independent growth in the definition for biological activity means that the preTGF-β or fragments thereof include polypeptides which can be converted, as by enzymatic digestion, to a polypeptide fragment which exhibits the desired biological activity. Typically, inactive precursors will be fusion proteins in which mature TGF-β is linked by a peptide bond at its carboxyl terminus to an insoluble or gelatinous protein. The sequence at or within the region of this peptide bond is selected so as to be susceptible to proteolytic hydrolysis whereby TGF-β is released, either in vivo for in situ generation or, as part of a manufacturing protocol, in vitro.

While TGF-β ordinarily means human TGF-β, TGF-β from sources such as murine, procine, equine or bovine is included within the definition of TGF-β so long as it otherwise meets the standards described above for biological activity. TGF-β is not species specific, e.g., murine and human TGF-β are both effective in inducing anchorage independent growth of the same cell line. Therefore, TGF-β from one species can be used in therapy of another species. DNA encoding the TGF-β of other species is obtained by probing cDNA or genomic libraries from such species with labelled human preTGF-β cDNA.

Derivatives of TGF-β are included within the scope of this invention. Derivatives inlcude glycosylated and covalent or aggregative conjugates with other TGF-β molecules, dimers or unrelated chemical moieties. Covalent derivatives are prepared by linkage of functionalities to groups which are found in the TGF-β amino acid chains or at the N- or C-termini, by means known in the art. These derivatives may, for example, include: aliphatic or acyl esters or amides of the carboxyl terminus, alkylamines or residues containing carboxyl side chains, e.g., conjugates to alkylamines at aspartic acid residues; O-acyl derivatives of hydroxyl group-containing residues and N-acyl derivatives of the amino terminal amino acid or amino-group containing residues, e.g. conjugates with fMet--Leu--Phe or immunogenic proteins. Derivatives of the acyl groups are selected from the group of alkyl-moieties (including C3 to C10 normal alkyl), thereby forming alkanoyl species, and carbocyclic or heterocyclic compounds, thereby forming aroyl species. The reactive groups preferably are difunctional compounds known per se for use in cross-linking proteins to insoluble matrices through reactive side groups.

Covalent or aggregative derivatives are useful as reagents in immunoassay or for affinity purification procedures. For example, TGF-β is insolubilized by covalent bonding to cyanogen bromide-activated Sepharose by methods known per se or adsorbed to polyolefin surfaces (with or without glutaraldehyde cross-linking) for use in the assay or purification of anti-TGF-β antibodies or cell surface receptors. TGF-β also is labelled with a detectable group, e.g., radioiodinated by the chloramine T procedure, covalently bound to rare earth chelates or conjugated to another fluorescent moiety for use in diagnostic assays, especially for diagnosis of TGF-β levels in biological samples by competitive-type immunoassays.

TGF-β variants generally are made by predetermined, i.e. site specific, methods. The objective of site specification mutagenesis is to construct DNA that encodes TGF-β as defined above, i.e., TGF-β which exhibits biological activity.

While the mutation site is predetermined, it is unnecessary that the mutation per se be predetermined. For example, in order to optimize the performance of the mutants at a given position random mutagenesis is conducted at the target codon and the expressed TGF-β variants are screened for optimal activity. Techniques are well known for making substitution variants are predetermined sites in DNA having a known sequence, for example M13 primer mutagenesis.

TGF-β mutagenesis is conducted by making amino acid insertions, usually on the order of about from 1 to 5 amino acid residues, or deletions of about from 1 to 10 residues. Substitutions, deletions, insertions or any subcombination may be combined to arrive at a final construct. As noted above, insertions include amino or carboxyl-terminal fusions, e.g. with a hydrophobic or immunogenic protein. The mutations in the DNA encoding such mutations should not ultimately place the sequence out of reading frame in an expression vector whereby the resulting protein is not biologically active TGF-β. The mutations also preferably will not create complementary regions that could produce translation-suppressing secondary mRNA structure.

Included herein are heterodimers of TGF-β. These typically include dimers in which one TGF-β chain is from one subclass, e.g. TGF-β₁, while the other is from another subclass, e.g. TGF-β₃. Similarly, TGF-β amino acid sequence variants are produced as homodimers or heterodimers with other amino acid sequence variants or with native TGF-β sequences. Heterodimers include dimers containing a first TGF-β sequence that is biologically active when present in a homodimer and a second TGF-β sequence that is not biologically active. Such heterodimers may be active as TGF-β antagonists. Heterodimers are readily produced by cotransforming host cells with DNA encoding the TGF-β chains selected. A proportion of the TGF-β so produced is expressed as the desired heterodimer, and transformants are screened for those which produce the greatest proportion of heterodimer.

DNA which encodes TGF-β is obtained by chemical synthesis, by screening reverse transcripts of mRNA from placental or other cells or by screening genomic libraries from eukaryotic cells. This DNA need not use the codons set forth in FIGS. 1b or 4a-4c so long as the host cell recognizes the codons which are used. DNA of this sort is as easily manufactured in vitro as the DNA of FIGS. 1b or 4a-4c. Also useful herein is nucleic acid, either RNA or DNA, which does not encode TGF-β thereof as defined herein but which nonetheless is capable of hybridizing with such DNA or RNA. Noncoding but hybridizing nucleic acid, while not used in the recombinant synthesis of TGF-β, is useful as an intermediate for making labelled probes in diagnostic assays for TGF-β mRNA or genomic DNA in test cells.

Diagnostic nucleic acid is covalently labelled with a detectable substance such as a fluorescent group, a radioactive atom or a chemiluminescent group by methods known per se. It is then used in conventional Southern or Northern hybridization assays. Such assays are employed in identifying TGF-β vectors and transformants as described in the examples infra, or for in vitro diagnosis such as detection of TGF-β mRNA in tissues as a measure of mitogenic activity.

TGF-β is synthesized herein in host cells transformed with vectors containing DNA encoding TGF-β. A vector is a replicable nucleic acid construct. Vectors are used either to amplify and/or to express DNA which encodes TGF-β, or to amplify DNA that hybridizes with DNA or RNA encoding TGF-β. An expression vector is a replicable DNA construct in which a DNA sequence encoding TGF-β is operably linked to suitable control sequences capable of effecting the expression of TGF-β in a suitable host. Such control sequences include a transcriptional promoter, an optional operator sequence to control transcription, a sequence encoding suitable mRNA ribosomal binding sites, and sequences which control termination of transcription and translation. For expression of TGF-β in eukaryotic cells the vector also should include DNA encoding a selection gene. However, the selection gene can be supplied by an unlinked plasmid in cotransformation.

Vectors comprise plasmids, viruses (including phage), and integratable DNA fragments i.e., fragments that are integratable into the host genome by recombination. In the present specification, the vector is a plasmid in the sense that it is cloned in bacterial cells, but it integrates into the host cell genome upon cotransformation. However, all other forms of vectors which serve an equivalent function and which are, or become, known in the art are suitable for use herein. Suitable vectors will contain replicon and control sequences which are derived from species compatible with the intended expression host.

DNA regions are operably linked when they are functionally related to each other. For example, DNA for a presequence or secretory leader is operably linked to DNA for a polypeptide if it is expressed as a preprotein which participates in the secretion of the polypeptide; a prompter is operably linked to a coding sequence if it controls the transcription of the sequence; or a ribosome binding site is operably linked to a coding sequence if it is positioned so as to permit translation. Generally, operably linked means contiguous and, in the case of secretory leaders, contiguous and in reading phase.

Cultures of cells derived from multicellular organisms are the preferred host cells herein. In principle, any higher eukaryotic cell culture is workable, whether from vertebrate or invertebrate culture. However, interest has been greatest in invertebrate cells, and propagation of vertebrate cells in culture per se has become a routine procedure in recent years [Tissue Culture, Academic Press, Kruse and Patterson, editors (1973)]. Examples of useful host cell lines are VERO and HeLa cells, Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines, and WI38, BHK, COS-7, 293 and MDCK cell lines.

Many eukaryotic cells are known to synthesize endogenous TGF-β. Thus, many potential host cells synthesize TGF-β of the host species. This TGF-β therefore is present in the TGF-β produced by transcription and translation of the transforming DNA. For example, hamster TGF-β is present in transformed CHO cells, and thus is present in cell extracts containing human TGF-β harvested from such cells. While this is not necessarily disadvantageous because animal and human TGF-β is active across species lines, it is desirable to select a host/vector system that secretes as little of the endogenous animal TGF-β as possible. This is accomplished by (a) selecting host animal cell lines that synthesize low levels of animal TGF-β, (b) transforming the animal cell line with a vector for high efficiency TGF-β secretion (described above) and recovering human TGF-β from the culture medium or (c) transforming a human cell line, whereby any endogenous hTGF-β that is produced would not be a contaminant.

It may be desirable to use a host cell line that is differentiated to synthesize endogenous TGF-β. Examples include megakaryoblast, promegakaryocytic or basophilic megakaryocytic cell lines. If suitable cell lines are not available they may be produced by EBV immortalization of megakaryoblasts, promegakaryocytes or basophilic megakaryocytes recovered from mammalian bone marrow. The TGF-β of the desired species is recovered from transformant cell cultures by immunoaffinity chromatography using antibodies specific for host TGF-β.

Expression vectors for such cells ordinarily include an origin of replication (for extrachromosomal amplification), a promoter located upstream from the TGF-β coding sequences, along with an enhancer if desired, RNA splice site (if intron-containing TGF-β-encoding genomic DNA is used), and a transcriptional termination sequence including a polyadenylation site located 3' to the TGF-β sequence.

The transcriptional and translational control sequences in expression vectors to be used in transforming vertebrate cells preferably are provided from viral sources. For example, commonly used promoters are derived from polyoma, Adenovirus 2, and most preferably Simian Virus 40 (SV40). The early and late promoters of SV40 are particularly useful because both are obtained easily from the virus as a fragment which also contains the SV40 viral origin of replication⁵⁴. Smaller or larger SV40 fragments may also be used, provided the approximately 250 bp sequence extending from the Hind III site toward the Bgl I site located in the viral origin of replication is included. Since TGF-β appears to be toxic to mammalian cell transformants and thus may interfere with attempts to amplify the gene, yields may be improved by the use of inducible promoters, e.g. the metallothionein promoter, Drosophila heat shock promoter or mouse mammary tumor virus promoter. Further, it is also possible to utilize the TGF-β genomic promoter, control and/or signal sequences normally associated with TGF-β, provided such control sequences are compatible with and recognized by the host cell. If TGF-β untranslated regions are included in expression vectors, yields may be improved by substituting A or T bases for G or C bases immediately 5' to the start condon and deleting G-C rich domains in the 3' untranslated sequences of the cDNA.

An origin of replication may be provided either by construction of the vector to include an exogenous origin, such as may be derived from SV40 or other viral (e.g. Polyoma, Adenovirus, VSV, or BPV) source, or may be provided by the host cell chromosomal replication mechanism. If the vector is integrated into the host cell chromosome, the latter is often sufficient.

Rather than using vectors which contain viral origins of replication, one can transform mammalian cells by cotransformation with a selectable marker and the TGF-β DNA. An example of a suitable selectable marker is dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) or thymidine kinase. Such markers are proteins, generally enzymes that enable the identification of transformant cells, i.e., cells which had been competent to take up exogenous DNA. Generally, identification is by survival of transformants in culture medium that is toxic or from which the cells cannot obtain critical nutrition without having taken up the marker protein. In selecting a preferred host mammalian cell for transfection by vectors which comprise DNA sequences encoding both TGF-β and DHFR, it is appropriate to select the host according to the type of DHFR protein employed. If wild type DHFR protein is employed, it is preferable to select a host cell which is deficient in DHFR thus permitting the use of the DHFR, coding sequence as a marker for successful transfection in selective medium which lacks hypoxanthine, glycine, and thymidine. An appropriate host cell in this case is the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line deficient in DHFR activity, prepared and propagated as described by Urlaub and Chasin⁵⁵.

On the other hand, if DNA encoding DHFR protein with low binding affinity for methotrexate (MTX) is used as the controlling sequence, it is not necessary to use DHFR resistant cells. Because the mutant DHFR is resistant to MTX, MTX containing media can be used as a means of selection provided that the host cells are themselves MTX sensitive. Most eukaryotic cells which are capable of absorbing MTX appear to be methotrexate sensitive. One such useful cell line is a CHO line, CHO-K1 (ATCC No. CCL 61). Alternatively, DHFR⁺ host cells are used by cotransforming the cells with DNA encoding the neomycin resistance gene, DHFR and TGF-β. The initial transfections are screened for neomycin resistance, and resistant transformants then amplified on MTX.

Other methods suitable for adaptation to the synthesis of TGF-β in recombinant vertebrate cell culture are described in Gething et al.⁵⁶, Mantei et al.⁵⁷, and Levinson et al.⁵⁸,59.

TGF-β is recovered from lysed, transformed cells and insoluble cell debris separted by centrifugation. Alternatively, the culture supernatants from transformed cells that secrete TGF-β are simply separated from the cells by centrifugation. Then the TGF-β generally is purified by methods known in the art¹⁵,16,17 using gel filtration in the presence of acid followed by HPLC and elution on an acetonitrile gradient. However, such methods are not necessarily required to prepare a therapeutic product.

As a further or substitute purification step, cell lysates or supernatants are heated for a period and at a temperature sufficient to denature and precipitate contaminant proteins but not TGF-β; TGF-β is a remarkably heat stable protein, perhaps as a result of extensive disulfide bond formation. As a result, the heating should be conducted in a medium that contains low amounts of disulfide reagents such as dithiothreitol or the like. Heating also is combined with acidification since TGF-β is known to be stable to 1M acetic acid.

Mature, native TGF-β is not glycosylated. Therefore it is separated from any residual contaminant heat- and acid-stable glycoproteins by adsorbing the glycoproteins on lectin columns such as lentil lectin-linked sepharose. This step, less desirably, can go before the heat and acid treatment. TGF-β will elute with the unadsorbed fraction. The recombinant TGF-β is recovered from host cells expressing endogenous TGF-β (or undesired homodimers) by transforming the host cells with a TGF-β variant which is glycosylated by the host. The sugar "tag" enables the recombinant TGF-β to be recovered free of endogenous TGF-β by lectin affinity chromatography, elution of the glycosylated TGF-β and removal, if desired, of the sugar residues by conventional enzymatic digestion.

If high purity product is desired the crude or partially purified mixture thereafter is subjected to chromatofocusing.

TGF-β is prepared for administration by mixing TGF-β at the desired degree of purity with physiologically acceptable carriers, i.e., carriers which are nontoxic to recipients at the dosages and concentrations employed. Ordinarily, this will entail combining TGF-β with buffers, antioxidants such as ascorbic acid, low molecular weight (less than about 10 residues) polypeptides, proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates including glucose or dextrins, chelating agents such as EDTA, and other excipients. TGF-β for use in therapeutic administration must be sterile. This is readily accomplished by filtration through sterile filtration (0.2 micron) membranes. TGF-β ordinarily will be stored as an aqueous solution since it is highly stable to thermal and oxidative denaturation.

TGF-β optionally is combined with activating agents such as TGF-α or EGF species as is described further in U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 500,833, now abandoned, and is administered in accord with said application.

Various therapeutic indications for TGF-β compositions are known.

The first, and preferred, indication is topical application to incisions or exposed tissue for the promotion of wound healing. There are no limitations as to the type of wound or other traumata that can be treated, and these include (but are not limited to): first, second and third degree burns (especially second and third degree); epidermal and internal surgical incisions, including those of cosmetic surgery; wounds, including lacerations, incisions, and penetrations; and epidermal ulcers including decubital (bed-sores), diabetic, dental, hemophiliac, and varicose. Doses such as those previously described for wound healing¹⁷ will be suitable as starting doses in these indications.

TGF-β compositions are applied to burns in the form of a sterile irrigant, preferably in combination with a physiological saline solution, or in the form of ointments or suspensions, preferably in combination with purified collagen. The compositions also may be impregnated into transdermal patches, plasters, and bandages, preferably in a liquid or semi-liquid form. Automicrobial agents such as silver sulfadiazine should be included in such articles or compositions. Debridement agents such as proteolytic enzymes also can be included if they do not hydrolyze TGF-β or a hydrolysis-resistant TGF-β mutant is employed.

TGF-β also is administered systemically for the treatment of wounds and similar traumata. Systemic administration is useful provided that there are no, or limited, undesirable side-effects, such as the stimulation of neoplastic cellular growth in patients with cancer. TGF-β compositions for systemic administration preferably are formulated as sterile, isotonic parenteral injections or infusions.

The amount of activating agent (such as TGF-α, EGF or other growth factors) administered with TGF-β depends directly upon the amount of TGF-β present in the activated compositions as administered to the recipient, the growth factors selected and the clinical status of the patient.

Initial dosing of TGF-β should be delivered to the therapeutic site in a concentration of about from 0.1 to 150 ng/ml and thereafter adjusted in line with clinical experience. Since TGF-β compositions both provoke and sustain cellular regeneration, a continual application or periodic reapplication of the compositions is indicated. The clinician will be expected to modify the dosage in accordance with clinical experience.

In order to simplify the Examples certain frequently occurring methods will be referenced by shorthand phrases.

Plasmids are designated by a low case p preceded and/or followed by capital letters and/or numbers. The starting plasmids herein are commercially available, are publicly available on an unrestricted basis, or can be constructed from such available plasmids in accord with published procedures. In addition, other equivalent plasmids are known in the art and will be apparent to the ordinary artisan.

"Digestion" of DNA refers to catalytic cleavage of the DNA with an enzyme that acts only at certain locations in the DNA. Such enzymes are called restriction enzymes, and the site for which each is specific is called a restriction site. The various restriction enzymes used herein are commercially available and their reaction conditions, cofactors and other requirements as established by the enzyme suppliers were used. Restriction enzymes commonly are designated by abbreviations composed of a capital letter followed by other letters representing the microorganism from which each restriction enzyme originally was obtained and then a number designating the particular enzyme. In general, about 1 μg of plasmid or DNA fragment is used with about 2 units of enzyme in about 20 μl of buffer solution. Appropriate buffers and substrate amounts for particular restriction enzymes are specified by the manufacturer. Incubation times of about 1 hour at 37° C. are ordinarily used, but may vary in accordance with the supplier's instructions. After incubation, protein is removed by extraction with phenol and chloroform, and the digested nucleic acid is recovered from the aqueous fraction by precipitation with ethanol. Digestion with a restriction enzyme infrequently is followed with bacterial alkaline phosphatase hydrolysis of the terminal 5' phosphates to prevent the two restriction cleaved ends of a DNA fragment from "circularizing" or forming a closed loop that would impede insertion of another DNA fragment at the restriction site. Unless otherwise stated, digestion of plasmids is not followed by 5' terminal dephosphorylation. Procedures and reagents for dephosphorylation are conventional⁸⁵.

"Recovery" or "isolation" of a given fragment of DNA from a restriction digest means separation of the digest on polyacrylamide or agarose gel by electrophoresis, identification of the fragment of interest by comparison of its mobility versus that of marker DNA fragments of known molecular weight, removal of the gel section containing the desired fragment, and separation of the gel from DNA. This procedure is known generally⁸⁶,87.

"Southern Analysis" is a method by which the presence of DNA sequences in a digest or DNA-containing composition is confirmed by hybridization to a known, labelled oligonucleotide or DNA fragment. For the purposes herein, unless otherwise provided, Southern analysis shall mean separation of digests on 1 percent agarose, denaturation and transfer to nitrocellulose by the method of E. Southern⁶⁸, and hybridization as described by T. Maniatis et al.⁸⁸.

"Transformation" means introducing DNA into an organism so that the DNA is replicable, either as an extrachromosomal element or chromosomal integrant. Unless otherwise provided, the method used herein for transformation of E. coli is the CaCl₂ method of Mandel et al.⁸⁹

"Ligation" refers to the process of forming phosphodiester bonds between two double stranded nucleic acid fragments (T. Maniatis et al., Id., p. 146). Unless otherwise provided, ligation may be accomplished using known buffers and conditions with 10 units of T4 DNA ligase ("ligase") per 0.5 μg of approximately equimolar amounts of the DNA fragments to be ligated.

"Preparation" of DNA from transformants means isolating plasmid DNA from microbial culture. Unless otherwise provided, the alkaline/SDS method of Maniatis et al., Id., p. 90, may be used.

"Oligonucleotides" are short length single or double stranded polydeoxynucleotides which are chemically synthesized by known methods and then purified on polyacrylamide gels.

All citations are expressly incorporated by reference.

EXAMPLE 1 Purification and Sequence Analysis of Human TGF-β

The known purification method of Assoian et al.¹⁵ was scaled up and modified to obtain enough homogeneously pure human TGF-β₁ for amino acid sequencing. 250 units of human platelets were extracted in a Waring blender with 1 liter of acid-ethanol. Addition of 4 liters of ether gave rise to a precipitate which was collected by vacuum filtration over Whatman No. 1 paper. The precipitate was dissolved overnight in 50 ml of 1M acetic acid and purified by gel filtration on a Biogel P-60 column (10×100 cm), equilibrated in 1M acetic acid. The fractions containing TGF-β₁ were identified by analytical SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and bioassay¹⁵. Peak fractions were pooled, freeze-dried and redissolved in 20 ml 1M acetic acid, 8M urea. Subsequent gel filtration over a Biogel P-60 column (5×90 cm) in 1M acetic acid, 8M urea yielded about 50 percent pure TGF-β. These peak fractions were then diluted with 1 volume of water and applied to a semipreparative RPP C18 (Synchropak) HPLC column in 0.1 percent trifluoroacetic acid and eluted with a 20-50 percent acetonitrile gradient. The TGF-β₁ thus obtained was quantitated by amino acid analysis, showing a yield of about 0.5 mg per preparation. Denaturing SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was performed as described⁶⁰. In agreement with previous work the non-reduced TGF-β₁ migrated as a 25 kD protein in a SDS-polyacrylamide gel, while reduction with β-mercaptoethanol converted it into a 12.5 kD species. This suggested that TGF-β consists of two 12.5 kD polypeptide chains linked by intermolecular disulfide bridges¹⁵.

In order to obtain protein sequence information, the purified TGF-β₁ was reduced, alkylated and subjected to aminoterminal sequence analysis. 1.2 nmole of TGF-β was dialyzed into 8M urea and reduced by incubation in 0.1M Tris-HCl (pH 8.5), 10 mM dithiothreitol, 8M urea. Subsequent alkylation took place in the presence of 50 mM iodoacetate at room temperature in the dark. This reaction was terminated after 30 min. by addition of an excess β-mercaptoethanol and dialysis. 0.7 nmole of this TGF-β₁ was used for the direct NH₂ -terminal sequence analysis. 1.2 nmole of reduced and alkylated TGF-β₁ was digested in 0.75M urea, 50 mM NH₄ HCO₃, 5 mM dithiothreitol for 24 hours with 1 percent clostripain¹⁵. An additional 1 percent of clostripain was added after 12 hours reaction time. The reaction products were separated on a Synchropak RPP C18 reverse phase column (4.6×250 mm) with a 0-70 percent acetonitrile gradient in 0.1 percent trifluoroacetic acid. Sequence determination took place using either an extensively modified Beckman 890C spinning cup sequencer⁶¹ or a vapor phase sequencer as described by Hewick et al.⁶² (Applied Biosystems, model 470A), with amino acid derivative identification by reversed phase HPLC on a Rainin Microsorb C-8 column. The amino acid sequence of several peptides was determined. One of these fragments was the NH₂ -terminal segment, while another large peptide yielded a 37 amino acid sequence which overlapped the NH₂ -terminal sequence and established 60 residues of contiguous sequence.

Unmodified TGF-β₁ was also treated with CNBr. Cleavage at the methionine residue resulted in the complete loss of biological activity, documenting that at least part of this C-terminal octapeptide is needed for biological activity (data not shown).

EXAMPLE 2 Isolation of a TGF-β Exon

The approach we followed for the initial identification of a nucleotide sequence encoding TGF-β₁ adopted the "long probe" strategy used previously for TGF-α⁷. Long oligonucleotides designed on the basis of the partial protein sequence were used as hybridization probes for the identification of a TGF-β₁ exon in a human genomic DNA library. The TGF-β₁ exon was then used as a probe for the isolation of TGF-β₁ cDNAs.

Two 44-base-long deoxyoligonucleotides, βLP1 and βLP2, complementary to sequences coding for amino acids 3 to 17 and 30 to 44, respectively, were chemically synthesized ⁶³, 64. The choice of nucleotide sequence was based upon the codon bias observed in human mRNAs²⁶. CpG dinucleotides, which are relatively rare in vertebrate DNA²⁷, were avoided whenever possible. In addition, sixteen 14-mers were synthesized which are complementary to all possible codons for amino acids 13 to 17. These deoxyoligonucleotides and the corresponding amino acid sequence are shown below. ##STR1##

The nucleotides marked with a dot are bases for which there is no ambiguity in the codon.

A human genomic DNA library²⁸ was screened under low stringency hybridization conditions using ³² P-labelled βLP-1 as probe. Approximately 7.5×10⁵ recombinant phage from a human genomic fetal liver library²⁸ were hybridized using low stringency conditions⁶⁵ with the ³² P-labelled 44-mer βLP-1 after replica plating onto nitrocellulose filters⁶⁶. DNA was prepared from 58 of the hybridizing phage and hybridized with the ³² P-labelled βLP-1 and βLP-2 oligonucleotides using the "dot blot" analysis method⁶⁷ and Southern hybridization⁶⁸ of BamHI digestion mixtures. The two phage DNAs which hybridized with both oligonucleotides were digested and probed with the pool of ³² P-labelled 14-mers again by Southern hybridization. 14-mer hybridizations were performed at 37° C. in 6×SSC, 0.5 percent NP40, 6 mM EDTA, 1X Denhardt's solution and 50 μg/ml salmon sperm DNA. Several washes were performed at room temperature in 6×SSC before autoradiography. DNA from phage βλ58 hybridized with the oligonucleotides βLP-1, βLP-2 and with the 14-mer pool. The sequences hybridizing to βLP-2 and the 14-mers were localized within the same 4.2 kbp BamHI fragment, while probe βLP-1 hybridized to a 20 kbp BamHI fragment. The hybridizing BamHI fragments were subcloned into pBR322. The nucleotide sequence of smaller hybridizing fragments was determined by dideoxynucleotide chain termination method⁶⁹ after subcloning into M13 derivatives⁷⁰.

The screening of the genomic DNA library resulted in the isolation of an exon coding the part of the TGF-β₁ coding sequence starting at mature residue 10. In order to obtain the entire TGF-β₁ coding sequence, this exon was used as a probe to screen a λgt10 based cDNA library derived from human term placenta mRNA.

EXAMPLE 3 Isolation of TGF-β cDNAs

Total RNA was extracted⁷¹ from the different cell sources and the polyadenylated mRNA fraction was isolated by oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography⁷². The cDNA was prepared⁷³ by priming with dT₁₂₋₁₈ or the deoxyoligonucleotide ACACGGGTTCAGGTAC. The double-stranded cDNA was treated with nuclease S1 (Miles Laboratories) followed by E. coli DNA polymerase I Klenow fragment (Boehringer Mannheim) and subcloned into EcoRI cleaved λgt10 as described⁷⁴, except that asymmetric EcoRI linkers⁷⁵ were used, thus avoiding the need for the EcoRI methylase treatment. The recombinant phage were plated on E. coli C600 Hfl⁷⁴ and replica plated onto nitrocellulose filters⁶⁶. These were hybridized with ³² P-labelled⁷⁶ restriction fragments of the Example 2 exon at 42° C. in 50 percent formamide, 5×SSC, 50 mM sodium phosphate pH 6.8, 0.1 percent sodium pyrophosphate, 5×Denhardt's solution, 50 μg/ml salmon sperm DNA and washed in 0.2×SSC, 0.1 percent SDS at the same temperature. Low stringency hybridization conditions⁶⁵ were used in the case of the ³² P-labelled deoxyoligonucleotides. The nucleotide sequence of the TGF-β₁ cDNA restriction fragments was determined by the dideoxyoligonucleotide chain termination method⁶⁹ after subcloning into M13 phage derivatives⁷⁰. The cDNAs obtained are schematically shown in FIG. 1a. λβC1 was isolated from a human placenta cDNA library using the genomic exon (FIG. 3) as probe. The screening of approximately 750,000 oligo-dT primed placenta cDNA clones resulted in the isolation of one TGF-β cDNA (λβC1) of about 1,050 bp. The previously determined partial TGF-β₁ sequence established the reading frame and revealed the sequence coding for the complete TGF-β₁ polypeptide. This sequence begins with the NH₂ -terminal alanine residue and is followed 112 codons later by a stop codon, only 20 base pairs from the 3' end. The λβC1 EcoRI cDNA insert was used in turn to screen the A172 glioblastoma cDNA library leading to the isolation of λβC3.19. Screening of a specifically primed HT1080 fibrosarcoma cDNA library with the ³² P-labelled KpnI-KpnI and the upstream EcoRI-KpnI fragment of the λβC3.19 cDNA insert yielded λβC4.10, 4.33 and 4.37. Another similar library was screened with the λβC4.33 insert and a synthetic 40-mer corresponding to nucleotides 1-40, leading to the isolation of λβC5.7b.

Since none of more than seventy TGF-β cDNAs isolated from different oligo(dT)-primed cDNA libraries contained more than a few nucleotides of 3' untranslated region, the 3' untranslated sequence was determined using cloned genomic DNA. Hybridization analysis showed that the 3' end of the λβC1 cDNA insert was present in the genomic DNA phage βλ58. DNA sequence analysis revealed the presence of an exon coding for the carboxy terminal part of TGF-β₁, followed by the stop codon and the 3' untranslated end (FIG. 1b). An AATAAA hexanucleotide sequence³² was encountered 500 bp downstream from the termination codon, thus permitting an assignment of the putative polyadenylation site. Assuming this is indeed the polyadenylation signal, the calculated size of TGF-β₁ mRNA is in close agreement with the 2.3 to 2.5 kb length determined from the Northern hybridization experiments (Example 4). Additional screening of oligo(dT)-primed placenta and HT1080 cDNA libraries using the genomic DNA probe for the 3' untranslated end did not identify a single hybridizing cDNA phage.

EXAMPLE 4 Diagnostic Method Using TGF-62 cDNA Probes

Polyadenylated RNA was recovered from the hepatoma HEP-G2, Wilms tumor TuWi, glioblastoma A172, bladder carcinoma T24, squamous epidermoid carcinoma A431, mammary cacinoma MCF-7, nasopharyngeal carcinoma KB, fibrosarcoma HT1080, Burkitt lymphoma B-lymphoblasts Daudi and Raji, T-lymphoblast Molt-4. Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) were prepared and mitogen-induced with staphylococcal enterotoxin B and phorbol myristate as described⁵³. RNA was harvested in this case after 24 hours. 4 μg of polyadenylated mRNA was electrophoresed into formaldehyde-1.2 percent agarose gel²⁹ and blotted onto nitrocellulose filters³⁰. The ³² P-labelled⁷⁶ EcoRI cDNA insert of λβC1 was used as probe under high stringency conditions used above. Comparison with the position of the 28S and 18S rRNA on the gel suggests a length of 2.3-2.5 kb for the TGF-β mRNA. In some cases a smaller mRNA species may be present, although partial degradation of the mRNA cannot be excluded.

TGF-β mRNA was detectable in all human tumor cell lines including tumor cells of neuroectodermal origin, such as TuWi (Wilms Tumor) and A172 (glioblastoma), and the carcinoma cell lines T24 bladdeer carcinoma, A431 (squamous epidermoid carcinoma), MCF-7 (mammary carcinoma) and KB (nasopharyngeal carcinoma). HT1080, a fibrosarcoma derived cell line, which we had chosen as a source of mRNA for the cDNA cloning, contained relatively high levels of TGF-β mRNA. TGF-β mRNA was not only present in cell lines derived from solid tumors of meso-, endo- and ectoblastic origin, but was also detectable in tumor cell lines of hematopoietic origin, e.g. Daudi (Burkitt lymphoma B-lymphoblast), Raji (Burkitt lymphoma B-lymphoblast), and Molt-4 (T-cell leukemia). The presence of TGF-β mRNA is not restricted to tumor cells, since it is clearly detectable in placenta and peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) mRNA. Strikingly, the level of TGF-β mRNA is significantly elevated after mitogenic stimulation of PBLs. TGF-β mRNA was not detectable in human liver, yet was present in the HEP-G2 hepatoma cell line. In all case, the TGF-β mRNA migrated as a species of an apparent length of 2.3 to 2.5 kbases. In some cases a smaller mRNA species of about 1.8 to 1.9 kb may be present, although this could be due to partial degradation of the mRNA.

EXAMPLE 5 Recombinant Synthesis of TGF-β

The plasmid used for recombinant synthesis of TGF-β₁ was pMBTE6. The following prophetic method for making this plasmid is preferred over the more complex method actually employed in its construction.

p342E⁷⁹ is digested with EcoRI, blunted with E. coli DNA polymerase I (Klenow fragment) and the four dNTPs, digested with SalI and Fragment 1 (containing the Amp^(r) gene of pBR322) recovered.

p342E is simultaneously digested with SalI and HindIII and the HBsAg-encoding fragment is recovered as Fragment 2.

Finally, the SV'genome is simultaneously digested with HindIII and HincII, and the 596 bp fragment containing the SV'origin and early promoter recovered as Fragment 3.

Fragments 1, 2 and 3 are ligated in a three way ligation and the ligation mixture is transformed into E. coli strain 294 (ATCC 31446). The transformed culture is plated on ampicillin media plates and resistant colonies are selected. p342E-blunt was recovered from a transformant colony.

p342E blunt is digested simultaneously with HindIII and EcoRI and the large vector fragment recovered. This fragment is ligated to a polylinker having the following sequence ##STR2## and the ligation mixture used to transform E. coli ATCC 31446 as described above. pCVSV-HBs is recovered from an ampicillin-resistant transformant.

pCVSV-HBs is digested with HindIII and EcoRI simultaneously and the vector fragment isolated (the 18 bp HindIII-EcoRI fragment will not appear in the gel due to its small size).

pgD-DHFR-Trunc (European Patent Application 84.305909.8), a plasmid containing DNA encoding the herpes simplex gD protein, is simultaneously digested with StuI and HindIII and the approximately 760 bp fragment recovered which contains DNA encoding the herpes simplex signal peptide and the coding region for the N-terminal part of the mature HSV-1gD protein. Plasmid pJ2.9 from European Patent Application 84.305909.8 can be used in the same fashion.

pβC1 (FIG. 1a) is digested with SmaI and BamHI, and the 480 bp fragment recovered. This fragment contains most of the sequence coding for preTGF-β₁ including the sequence coding for the N-terminus of mature TGF-β₁ through residue 314.

pβC1 is digested with BamHI and EcoRI and the 270 bp fragment recovered. These two separate digestions of pβC1 aliquots were conducted because the BamHI-EcoRI pβC1 fragment contains a SmaI site. The 270 bp fragment contains the sequence coding for the rest of the TGF-β₁ molecule and extends 20 bp beyond the stop codon.

The pCVSV-HBs vector fragment is ligated in a four way ligation with the foregoing 760, 270 and 480 bp fragments. The resulting construction (pCVSVgD) thus contained a hybrid coding sequence (Herpes simplex gD-1 signal peptide and part of the gD-1 envelope protein linked in rame to the preTGF-β₁ precursor fragment) under the control of the SV' early promoter. This hybrid coding sequence is in turn followed by the 3' untranslated sequence and the polyadenylation signal of the hepatitis surface antigen.

pCVSVgD is digested with EcoRI, blunted with Klenow and the four dNTPs, and thereafter digested with PstI. Two fragments are so obtained, with the fragment including the hybrid coding sequence and the SV40 promoter (fragment A) being recovered.

pCVSVgD is digested with BamHI, blunted with Klenow and the four dNTPs, and thereafter digested with PstI. Four fragments are obtained after these digestions. The fragment containing the pBR322 origin and Amp^(r) gene (about 1900 bp) is recovered as Fragment B.

Fragments A and B are ligated and the ligation mixture used to transform E. coli ATCC 31,446. Plasmid pMBTE6 is recovered from an Amp^(r) colony.

Plasmid pMBTE6 was transfected into DHFR deficient CHO cells⁵⁵ together with plasmid pFD11⁹⁰. The latter plasmid encodes DHFR, thereby conferring methotrexate resistance on the transfected cells and allowing for selection of TGF-β expressing transformants. Any DHFR⁻ mammalian host cell is suitable for use. Alternatively, one can use any mammalian host cell, cotransform the host cell with a plasmid encoding neomycin resistance, and identify transformants by their ability to grow in neomycin-containing medium.

The transfected CHO cells were selected by culturing in HGT⁻ medium. The cells were allowed to grow to confluency in 15 cm diameter plates. The cells thereafter were cultured in serum-free medium for 48 hours prior to harvest. The culture medium was decanted from the plates and assayed in a soft agar assay for the presence of TGF-β as described⁷⁸.

50 ml supernatant medium was lyophilized and dissolved in 700 μl 4 mM HCl-0.1 percent bovine serum albumin. 200 μl of this solution and of serial three-fold dilutions were assayed. The number of colonies in soft agar with a diameter of >89 μm were counted. The maximal response (plateau-value) obtained in the presence of saturating levels of TGF-β₁ was about 1500 per plate. Less than 50 colonies were obtained in the absence of TGF-β₁. A half maximal response was obtained with a 9-fold dilution of the sample derived from the cells transformed with a negative control plasmid. Calculations from the values obtained by serial dilution of the MBTE6 supernatant showed that the half maximal value was obtained at a 70-fold dilution.

The assays of serial dilutions show that cells transformed with MBTE6 and pFD11 synthesize about 8-10 times more TGF-β₁ per ml of medium than do CHO cells transfected with pFD11 alone or with pFD11 together with a control plasmid (one which was similar to pMBTE6 except that the Herpes coding sequence is replaced by the sequence coding for the bacterial STII signal peptide), even prior to subcloning and selection in MTX-containing media. This additional amount of TGF-β is human TGF-β₁.

Since biologically active TGF-β₁ is found in the culture medium it is concluded that CHO cells cleave preTGF-β in the same fashion as do human cells in vivo to secrete mature native TGF-β. This conclusion is very much strengthened by the fact that the slope of the TGF-β₁ concentration dilution curve in the soft agar is identical for both the endogenous natural TGF-β₁ and the recombinant TGF-β₁, thus reflecting a similar if not identical affinity for the TGF-β receptor.

EXAMPLE 6 Isolation of DNA Encoding TGF-β3

1.5×10⁶ plaques from porcine ovarian cDNAλ library was screened under low hybridizing conditions with the ³² P-labelled E. coli insert of λβC₁ (1050 bp) in pH6.8 hybridization buffer containing 5×SSC, 20% formamide, 5×Denhardts, 0.1% Napyrophosphate, 0.05M NaPO₄, 0.1% SDS and 50 μg/ml salmon sperm DNA at 42° C. overnight. Washes were in 2×SSC at 37° C. Phage was purified from positively hybridizing plaques and their DNA inserts were sequenced. The approximately 200 positively hybridizing cDNA inserts fell into three classes: Porcine TGF-β₁ (2 plaques), G-C rich cDNAs which did not encode a TGF-β polypeptide (6) and λ11.3, a gene fragment which contained DNA encoding porcine TGF-β₃ downstream from mature residue 10.

The labelled EcoRI insert of λ11.3 was used under high stringency conditions (as above but 50% formamide, and with washes using 0.1×SSC at 42° C.) to rescreen 1×10⁶ plaques from a porcine ovarian cDNA λ library. Of 20 positively hybridizing plaques, one (λ10) contained the entire porcine TGF-β₃ sequence. The combined nucleotide and imputed amino acid sequences encoded by λ10+11.3 are shown in FIGS. 4a-4c.

1×10⁶ plaques from a human ovarian cDNA library were screened with labelled porcine cDNA. One positive plaque (λhu4) was identified. λhu4 has the nucleotide and imputed amino acid sequence set forth in FIGS. 4a-4c. FIG. 5 is a comparison of the amino acid sequences imputed from the porcine and human TGF-β₃ cDNAs. The candidate start codons for the porcine precursors are boxed.

TGF-β₃ is expressed in recombinant cell culture and recovered therefrom in substantially the same way as TGF-β₁, making allowances for departures in nucleotide and amino acid sequence as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Since the complete precursor for human TGF-β₃ is not disclosed, in order to express human TGF-β₃ it will be desirable to reprobe genomic or cDNA libraries for DNA encoding the remaining N-terminal precursor sequence, or ligate DNA encoding the available human sequence (starting at the codon for residue 3) with the DNA encoding the porcine TGF-β₃ precursor through residue 297 (numbered as shown in FIG. 5), or prepare DNA encoding a heterologous mammalian or viral signal fusion with DNA encoding mature human TGF-β₃.

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We claim:
 1. A method comprising (a) constructing a vector which includes nucleic acid encoding biologically active TGF-β, (b) transforming a host eukaryotic cell with the vector, (c) culturing the transformed cell and (d) recovering mature TGF-β from the culture medium.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the eukaryotic cell is a Chinese hamster ovary cell line.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the TGF-β encoded by the nucleic acid of step (a) is preTGF-β.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the preTGF-β is a fusion polypeptide hving a viral secretory signal sequence at its N-terminus and the sequence of mature TGF-β at its C-terminus.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the nucleic acid encoding the preTGF-β is operably linked to a viral promoter.
 6. The method of claim 4 wherein the nucleic acid encoding the preTGF-β is operably linked to an inducible promoter.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the TGF-β is human TGF-β.
 8. A method comprising (a) constructing a vector that includes nucleic acid encoding biologically active TGF-β1, (b) transforming a host eukaryotic cell with the vector, (c) culturing the transformed cell, and (d) recovering mature TGF-β1 from the culture medium.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the eukaryotic cell is a Chinese hamster ovary cell line.
 10. The method of claim 8 wherein the TGF-β1 encoded by the nucleic acid of step (a) is preTGF-β1.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the preTGF-β1 is a fusion polypeptide having a viral secretory signal sequence at its N-terminus and the sequence of mature TGF-β1 at its C-terminus.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the nucleic acid encoding the preTGF-β1 is operably linked to a viral promoter.
 13. The method of claim 11 wherein the nucleic acid encoding the preTGF-β1 is operably linked to an inducible promoter.
 14. The method of claim 8 wherein the TGF-β1 is human TGF-β1.
 15. A method comprising (a) constructing a vector that includes nucleic acid encoding biologically active TGF-β3, (b) transforming a host eukaryotic cell with the vector, (c) culturing the transformed cell, and (d) recovering mature TGF-β3 from the culture medium.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the eukaryotic cell is a Chinese hamster ovary cell line.
 17. The method of claim 15 wherein the TGF-β3 encoded by the nucleic acid of step (a) is preTGF-β3.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein the preTGF-β3 is a fusion polypeptide having a viral secretory signal sequence at its N-terminus and the sequence of mature TGF-β3 at its C-terminus.
 19. The method of claim 18 wherein the nucleic acid encoding the preTGF-β3 is operably linked to a viral promoter.
 20. The method of claim 18 wherein the nucleic acid encoding the preTGF-β3 is operably linked to an inducible promoter.
 21. The method of claim 15 wherein the TGF-β3 is human TGF-β3.
 22. A replicable eukaryotic expression vector comprising DNA that encodes biologically active TGF-β operably linked to DNA that encodes a secretory leader.
 23. A eukaryotic host cell containing the vector of claim
 22. 24. A replicable eukaryotic expression vector comprising DNA that encodes biologically active TGF-β1 operably linked to DNA that encodes a secretory leader.
 25. A eukaryotic host cell containing the vector of claim
 24. 26. A replicable eukaryotic expression vector comprising DNA that encodes biologically active TGF-β3 operably linked to DNA that encodes a secretory leader.
 27. A eukaryotic host cell containing the vector of claim
 26. 